eXtasy Advent Calendar – Day 2

Christmas Hi everyone I’m Bronwyn Heeley, sitting here, thinking of something to write as my fingers tap away (and I get my own blog’s post out of the way), though I’m not sure what this is meant to be about, what I’m meant to write about, what inspiration I’m meant to pull the post from. I mean, yeah I understand we are talking about Christmas, but what exactly do you want to know, but more importantly do I want to talk about. I could talk about going to me Nan and Pop’s house down in Quarkers Hill (Australia) where every year my Pop and his mate up the road put on a light display that generally gets a road closed, not because the cops are smart but because so many people come to visit them. They usually win best displayed house and are on the telly and in the papers. My Pop’s is magical, though unlike the bloke up the road (who generally wins), it’s only been recently that’s he’s allowed people into his front yard, and that was helped by the fact that my dad made him a Santa chair—did I mention my Pop plays Santa every year?! We go on Christmas Eve, though this is a new thing since my small family have family now, which means Christmas night with the other half. I remember though, I remember the younger years when the house was still filled with cigarette smoke, it was so thick it was like walking through fog, worse though the night as most of that side of my family were smokers. We use to always get McDonalds before we went down there, mostly because my Nan served dinner at a certain time, and because we simply couldn’t get there by that time and always missed out. Except my dad, as he was the baby and my Nan’s only boy, he always got a plate of dinner. I remember the noise; it’s not as loud anymore. My dad’s side of the family, though much smaller than my mums, are loud. My aunties are strong independent woman who wear the pants in any relationship. They are opinionated and they will argue their point, not allowing anyone to see another, so it generally ended up with loud over the top decisions. The thing is though, that they never fought, that wasn’t what the family does. The chats, the liveliness though they wont change their mind and they try and change yours, they never chuck a tantrum if they can’t. They are the type of women to hold grudges but not with family. We always get presents. And I know that seems weird, like why weren’t we otherwise, but my extended family is large and so on my mother’s side did a Kris-Kringle which meant we’d only get the one our parents had bought us. At Nan and Pop’s we’d get one from each family, which meant 3 I believe, maybe 4 when my eldest cousin got bigger, but that was a lot in one sitting outside out own Christmas morning. I remember the crowd, we’d have to get there before dark if we wanted to get a spot, and always had to fight the crowd to see both the lights, but I can never remember being all that annoyed, maybe because I was used to it. I knew it was coming as it had been that way since I can remember, and before. Always thousands of people everywhere, though it wasn’t nearly as bad as it is now. However, more than anything I remember Santa, sitting on his lap, getting the cheap lollypop he hands out. The laughter, happiness, family. Because I’ve always found I fit in there, which some might not have seen as a good thing, but then my mum has always had a problem with my dad’s family, or they her, mostly because of her accent. Clearly a different story all together, lol I guess I’m talking about this coming off a sadness as my Nan and Pop don’t have much time left, or at least my Pop, since Nan could outlive us all. He’s got cancer, it’s aggressive, and they can’t do anything about it. So this year may be our last year of lights, and Santa and a tradition that has lasted decades. I don’t mention this to be a downer, just giving you a understanding as to why these thoughts are what’s in my mind at the moment, why these memories are the ones I’m clinging to this year. And that’s me out, a bit of a sniffle and something digging into my eye, but sadness on happiness does that to you.

Thanks for the post. I love the lights at Christmas. I live in a basement apartment so no lights outside for me. With the limited space we do have Not much decorating. My husband gets in the spirit though. From Dec 1 to Christmas he wears a santa hat. He has done this for at least the last 10 years.